We've been mandated to close down for two to three months. We're going to be under ridiculous restraints.

Live Jack’s owner Sandra Holman-Watts decided to close because she didn’t want to take out a government loan during a pandemic with no end in sight. In May, she said of the live-music industry: “We were the first to close, and we're going to be the last to open. While the Pec, the city’s longest-running jazz venue, was the most significant spot to close, it wasn't the first. Last May, Live Jack’s shut down after a two-decade-long run, and La Cour, which opened in 2014, soon followed. And it's just that Denver's different than it used to be, and 20th and Market is different than it used to be.” In the mix: Rockies fans disrupting shows after games, safety concerns from nearby tent cities, and LoDo drunks pouring out of Market Street bars, explained Diaz. 'It's just really taking a toll on us. But there are so many things that led to this choice.' “Undoubtedly, that makes an impact in our decision. “I want to make sure we're not going to be too quick to point the finger at COVID and our shutdowns for being the reason for this closure,” Diaz said at a December 8 press conference. Angela Guerrero and Anna Diaz, Krantz’s daughters, took over the bar after he died in 2012, and it was under their ownership that the Pec finally closed for good. It was owner Jerry Krantz - who'd inherited El Chapultepec from his father-in-law, Tony Romano, in 1968 - who turned it into a jazz club. The bar had been in the same family for decades. Clubs like Dazzle and Nocturne are doing what they can to stay afloat, and less traditional spots like the Mercury Cafe and Muse Performance Space in Lafayette are relying on goodwill to weather the pandemic.īefore COVID-19, Denver boasted a long jazz tradition, stretching back to the 1920s, when Five Points was known as the 'Harlem of the West' and jazz greats frequented town. El Chaputepec, which opened the day after Prohibition ended and originally offered mariachi music, eventually became a bar where young jazz musicians honed their chops and royalty like Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Tony Bennett, Eddie Harris and many more came to play. It was the third jazz venue to shut down since COVID-19 arrived. That became most obvious in early December, when legendary bar El Chapultepec closed after nearly nine decades.

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